C.D. v. State

C.D. appeals his adjudication on a charge of possession of marijuana. He claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the drugs found on him when an officer stopped him in a public park and then, for officer safety, searched him. We agree that the officer’s search of the juvenile was not lawful, and the court should have suppressed the marijuana found as a result of the search. We reverse.

Two Palm Beach County sheriffs deputies were conducting surveillance one evening at a Royal Palm Beach city park because of reports of drug paraphernalia found there. In the dark they…